This Ilia Beauty Limitless Lash mascara is very long-wearing but it doesn’t really build volume. Great for long lashes but it does leave them looking kind of spidery. Not my favourite look but points for it lasting a long time and no smudging whatsoever.
Scent of the night: Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule. I had a busy day today, I had some friends over, we smelled perfume, chatted, and now that I’ve had some distance from all that other perfume in the air, the day is done, I am wearing something for myself, and Santal Majuscule is perfect. It’s a Rose Sandalwood, and I don’t think it can get any better. It’s such a calming but vibrant scent, the rose sweet and mouth-watering, the sandalwood is creamy.
This morning I opened a mask my mom gave me, and immediately the air was filled with the scent of sandalwood. I hadn’t read what the mask was, but it turns out that the main ingredient in it is actual ground-up sandalwood and it smells just like the sandalwood in Santal Majuscule. The word “chandan” means sandalwood, and the reddish colour of the mask is the colour of some kinds of sandalwood.
I’m on a Lutens kick right now, so tell me what your favourite from the brand is.
Under a spell with Gucci A Winter Melody.
Even though I’m not a winter person, I can’t help but find brightness in the dark, like warmer temperatures when it’s been bitterly cold, the treats someone left next to the I love the crispness in the air, the feeling of freshness, a new start just around the corner. The burying of the hatchet, forgiveness of the tiny hurts, being in a cloud of my own perfume.
Cypress and rose in an apothecary bottle and a fine mist.
It’s almost all I need right now.
Scents mentioned:
Belle Ame by Les Abstraits
Diaghilev by Roja Perfumes
Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle
Meharees by L’Erbolario
Iris de Gris by L’Artisan Parfumeur
The Charlotte Tilbury Brightening Finishing Powder is new. I have it in the shade fair/medium and as you can see it looks white in the pan. It does apply clear but it definitely brightens skin. I like it under my eyes.
In my search for a cheaper dupe of Chanel Coromandel, I came across Prada Amber as a comparison, and from far away, I can see it, but close up, it’s not true, not even in the slightest.
Have you smelled these?
I’ve had Prada Amber forever, and I’m so familiar with its scent that it’s hard for me to describe it. It’s a soft sandalwood-dominant amber that’s not sweet. It’s comforting and calm.
Last work day of the year, and I wore Ambre Extreme by L’Artisan Parfumeur. It’s a vintage bottle, and as much as it’s nice to say “they don’t make them like they used to”, actually, they make them just fine, and there’s a plethora of beautiful ambers out there so you don’t need to go hunting for the vintage bottle. Of course, the bottle is gorgeous and so is the perfume, but it had barely any sillage so that mouth-watering cardamom just sat on my skin. Then again, this is Jean-Claude Ellena working with what was there at the time, and I find that it’s pretty difficult to overdo any of the old L’Artisans and that’s also what I like about them. I know that I’m not going to end up with a headache, so maybe next time I’ll just spray it in my hair and I’ll get a whiff of it every time I turn around. Of course, that cozy vanilla-benzoin-patchouli combo is just right, and maybe this leans a little powdery and a little old-fashioned for some, but I like it, it’s cozy like a big warm scarf.
What I’m really saying is that I wouldn’t mind a gallon of this and I’m keeping it in rotation, but once it’s done I’m not hunting down another bottle until I am, and then maybe I’ll photograph it and show it to you but only once I’m sure you’ve forgotten about this.
Pepper with no bite, green but no leaves, wet without the rain.
The last of this winter’s figs and Diptyque Philosykos EDP, which is still my favourite fig perfume. I love that it’s easy to wear and I’m always a fan of the gorgeous Diptyque packaging. Although most of my perfumes get rotated and pulled out for wear, this one basically stays out because I reach for it so often.
And some green perfumes you should seek out and try.
I caught the sun this morning, so here are some empties. I took a break last weekend because there wasn’t anything but today there is.
Alterna Caviar Restructuring Bond Repair mask. I love this line because it makes my hair so smooth and I do a weekly conditioning treatment with this mask. Love it.
Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Moisturizing Face Serum Sunscreen. SPF 50+. This is a light easy-to-wear sunscreen. Broad Spectrum and a high enough SPF that you’ll be protected for a while. Love it. I would love a larger bottle of it so that it would last me longer.
Pixi Skintreats Retinol Tonic. I like this ok… smelled like Dettol… I used it as a toner in the morning. Again it was fine, but I don’t know if it was doing much. I just used it to wipe on my skin first thing in the morning in place of a cleanse and it was great.
Tarte the Tartelette Tubing Mascara. I loved this mascara and I will for sure repurchase it. It’s a dark intense black and the real tubing formula just lasts and lasts.
Dior moisturizing lipstick in a clear shimmer colour. Love it… better than a balm, I would say, but I don’t know if I’d buy it.
